Nerik was founded by Hattic language speakers as Narak;[3] in the Hattusa archive, tablet CTH 737 records a Hattic incantion for a festival there. Under Hattusili I, the Nesian-speaking Hittites took over Nerik. They maintained a spring festival called "Puruli" in honor of its storm god. In it, the celebrants recited the myth of the slaying of Illuyanka.

Under Hantili, Nerik was ruined and the Hittites had to relocate the Puruli festival to Hattusa. As of the reign of Tudhaliya I, Nerik's site was occupied by the barbarian Kaskas, whom the Hittites blamed for its initial destruction.[4]

During Muwatalli II's reign, his brother and appointed governor Hattusili III recaptured Nerik and rebuilt it as its High Priest. Hattusili named his firstborn son "Nerikkaili" in commemoration (although he later passed him over for the succession). When Muwatalli's son Mursili III became king, after seven years Mursili reassigned Nerik to another governor. Hattusili rebelled and became king himself.

Nerik disappeared from the historical record when the Hittite kingdom fell, ca. 1200 BC.

In 2005 Rainer M. Czichon and Jörg Klinger of the Freie Universitaet Berlin began excavation of Oymaağaç Höyük, "on the eastern side of the Kızılırmak, 7 km northwest of Vezirköprü" (41°12′25″N35°25′12″E﻿ / ﻿41.207°N 35.420°E﻿ / 41.207; 35.420). Thus far this is the northernmost place of Anatolia with Hittite Imperial remains - including "three fragments of tablets and a bulla with stamps of the scribe Sarini". In addition, mention of the mountains in which Nerik was located have been found at the site, as well as features suggestive of monumental Hittite architecture.[5] No secure identification has yet been published, but the name of their website (www.nerik.de) shows their confidence.